South Brunswick Summer Concert Series comes to Woodlot Park
By:Audrey Levine
Bob and Mary Bouffard sat in their lawn chairs in the amphitheater in Woodlot Park watching their 5-year-old daughter, Emily, run around with a large ball ruing the fourth concert in the South Brunswick Summer Concert Series.
The series, which has been organized every year since 1980, features four or five concerts with different rock ‘n’ roll bands.
According to Bonnie Bruccoleri, recreation supervisor for South Brunswick Township and organizer of the concerts, she tries to attract a family audience, normally young children and older adults.
The show on July 30 was headlined by the band Party of Five which, despite its name, is made up of four men, lead singer Bill Korzeniowski of Kendall Park, guitarist Mike Fucci, Gordon Lorenz on bass and John Anderson on drums.
Mr. Korzeniowski said there had been a fifth member who quit. However, at the time the group was already well known and they opted to keep their name.
The band has been together for six years and plays rock ‘n’ roll and country songs from the 1950s through the 1990s.
Mr. Korzeniowski and Mr. Mike Fucci knew each other in high school and both they and the other members of the band had their own groups at that time. They later formed Party of Five.
They began the concert with "Teenager in Love" and continued with other classics, including "Earth Angel," "I Saw Her Standing There," "Honky Tonk Woman" and "Jailhouse Rock."
The band continued playing songs from many different musical legends, including the Rolling Stones, Beatles, Eagles, Everly Brothers and Elvis. They like to play a broad spectrum of music, Mr. Korzeniowski said.
The Bouffard family attends all the concerts.
"We like listening to live music," Mr. Bouffard said.
Ms. Bouffard said Woodlot Park is an excellent location for the concert with the amphitheater and open field.
"There is a lot of room for kids to run around," she said.
Francine Stewart attended the concert with her two children, Nicholas and Caitlyn Borghi, 4 and 9 respectively, her 10-year-old nephew, Thomas Mahlart, and her friend Perry Kaplan. While there, she met her friend Mary Shamy who came to the concert with her 7-year-old son, Dylan.
While the kids ran around hunting grasshoppers, Ms. Stewart and Ms. Shamy sat on their blankets listening to the music.
"I wanted to come for some fun with my son," Ms. Shamy said.
Ms. Stewart, who had previously attended another concert, came to see Party of Five because the lead singer is her next-door neighbor and the father of her daughter’s friend.
Despite the fact that most of the guests were older adults and families with young children, the concert did have quite a few teenagers in attendance.
The counselors at Woodlot Park’s Summer parks for kindergarten through sixth grade, spent a counselors’ night out at the Party of Five concert.
Both Arielle Tuskey, 14, and Brittany Beris, 13, agreed that coming to the concert with the counselors, or other friends, is a great idea because there is a lot to do, including playing Frisbee, dancing and simply hanging out together.
According to Ms. Bruccoleri, about 200 to 500 people attend the concerts, for which she begins arrangements in December or January as she looks for bands through recommendations, performances and simply hearing from the bands themselves.
While she tries to enlist different bands each year, Ms. Bruccoleri attempts to promote local bands. Party of Five, with one member living in South Brunswick, had performed at other township events including Community Unity Day.
Carolyn Dardani, a concert supervisor, walked around Woodlot Park passing out balloons to the children. Her job was to meet and greet the band and serve as a point of contact.
Elaine and Paul Cembor also attend the concerts each year. They said they enjoy every band because they are all different. The bands also, "play stuff from the ’60s," Ms. Cembor said with a smile.
Despite enjoying coming only with her husband, Ms. Cembor also knows how much fun the concert could be with friends.
"It’s fun coming with a group because, especially with this music, we can reminisce, but it’s sometimes nice to be by ourselves," she said.
Mr. Korzeniowski said the band enjoys playing outdoor concerts and likes to play for people he knows.
Mr. Fucci said the band looks to play songs that people can dance to, are popular, classics and that "we can do," he added with a chuckle.
The songs they chose were definitely well known as many people got out of their seats to dance and sing with the band, especially during the final number, "Mustang Sally."
"That’s when you know you’re doing your job well," Mr. Fucci said, "when you see people singing along with you and dancing."
Ms. Bouffard finds the concert to be a fun way to spend an evening outdoors.
"It’s a good way to start the weekend," she said.
"It’s a night that South Brunswick gives its residents and we like to take advantage of it and listen to good bands," Ms. Cembor said. "It’s nice after a long day’s work."
The next concert is set for 7 p.m. Friday at the Woodlot Park Amphitheater in Woodlot Park. It will feature the Pat Roddy Band.

